International Summer School in Psychotherapy Research

Sigmund Freud University, Vienna
July 2010

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

>> The International Study of the Development of Psychotherapists:
Organisation, methods, findings and consequences of an innovative collaborative approach to the study of therapist development
Prof. Thomas Schröder (University of Notthingam – UK)

The Collaborative Research Network (CRN) was formed by researchers and research-minded clinicians who, all being members of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, came together to study the development and practices of psychotherapists. Over the past twenty years we have collected data from over 10,000 therapists from 45 countries with our main instrument, the ‘Common Core Questionnaire’. This presentation will cover the following topics (particular emphases can be guided by participants’ interests):

1. How to do collaborative research without a grant. The joys and pitfalls of organising a research co-operative to conduct a curiosity-driven investigation.

2. Compatibility and correspondence, generalizability and generality. Methodological issues in compiling and examining a naturalistic multi-lingual, cross-cultural, heterogeneous data base.

3. What do we know now that we did not know before? Levels of data exploration and key findings.

4. Why is it worth knowing? Clinical consequences, lessons for training, opportunities for self-examination.

5. Supplementary questions. The example of studying difficulties in therapeutic practice.

6. Future avenues of investigation. Tensions between delving deeper, sampling more broadly and pursuing different perspectives.

7. Research opportunities unlimited… Matching the potential of the CRN with individual interests. There will be opportunities for experiential learning and small group discussion depending on participants’ predilections.

Readings
Orlinsky, D. & Rønnestad, H. with Ambühl, H., Willutzki, U., Davis, J., Gerin, P., Schröder, T.A., Wiseman, H., Davis, M., Botermans, J.-F., Dazord, A. and Cierpka, M. (2005). How psychotherapists develop. A study of therapeutic work and professional growth. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Orlinsky, D. E., Ambühl, H., Rønnestad, H. et al. (1999). The development of psychotherapists: Concepts, questions, and methods of a collaborative international study. Psychotherapy Research, 9, 127 -153

Orlinsky, D. E., Botermans, J-F., Wiseman, H., Rønnestad, M. H., & Willutzki, U. (2005). Prevalence and parameters of personal therapy in Europe and elsewhere. In J. D. Geller, J. C. Norcross & D. E. Orlinsky, Eds., The psychotherapist’s own psychotherapy: patient and clinician perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rønnestad, M. H. & Orlinsky, D. E. (2005). Therapeutic work and professional development: Main findings and practical implications of a long-term international study. Psychotherapy Bulletin, 40 (2), 27-32

Rønnestad, H., Orlinsky, D. E., Parks, B. K. & Davis, J. D. (1997). Supervisors of psychotherapy: Mapping experience level and supervisory confidence. European Psychologist, 2, 191-201

Schröder, T. A., & Davis, J. D. (2004). Therapists’ experience of difficulty in practice. Psychotherapy Research, 14, 3, 328-345


>> Conceptual and methodological issues in researching emotions in psychotherapy
Prof. Anastassios Satalikas
(Panteion University of Social Political Sciences, Athens – Greece)

Emotions represent one of the major concepts in both theory and research of psychotherapy. Most theories postulate that emotions play an important role in psychotherapeutic process and change. Concepts like emotional presence, emotional engagement, emotional expression, catharsis, experiencing, felt sense, and emotional schemata, represent variables that psychotherapy researchers study. Lately positive emotions and concepts related to positive emotions have been added to the interest of researchers. In this workshop we will focus on the conceptual and definitional issues surrounding the manner in which emotions are defined and studied, and on the different methods that researchers employ to identify, assess, measure and study emotions in the psychotherapeutic context.

Readings
Fitzpatrick, M.R., & Stalikas, A. (2008). Positive emotions as generators of therapeutic change. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. 18(2), 137-154.

Fitzpatrick, M.R., & Stalikas, A. (2008). Integrating positive emotions into theory, research , and practice: A new challenge for psychotherapy. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 18(2), 248-258.

Stalikas, A., & Fitzpatrick, M.R.(2008). Positive emotions in psychotherapy theory, research, and practice: New kid on the block? Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 18(2), 155-166.

>> Participants research projects discussion
Teaching staff

This full one-day discussion is thought to give the participants the possibility of presenting their research projects and discussing them with colleagues and with the teaching staff. This is moreover meant to facilitate an effective networking between participants and teachers. It will concern the presentation and discussion of about 8 works, which will be selected according to different criteria (stage of work, methodological sophistication, etc.). For the submitted research projects which will not be discussed a poster session will be organized to allow everyone to present and discuss his/her work.


>> “Yes, I have changed. How? Well (…)”. Qualitative methods in psychotherapy process research
Dr. Kathrin Mörtl (York University, Toronto – Canada)

After 111 years of psychotherapy practice and research, we know a lot about how patients change with the help of a therapist. This knowledge, theoretically as well as intuitively manifest, is informed by empirical investigations. In this one-day workshop we will focus on qualitative methods that help us to understand, describe and explain the phenomenon of ‘change’. The participants will be introduced to a variety of methods, including prominent features, like: GT, CA, CCRT and NPCS. Besides discovering the meaning of these abbreviations, our goal is to provide a first orientation in the complex forest of qualitative research possibilities. To do so, we will work with a videotaped psychotherapy session taken from the York I Depression Study; a transcript of this very session will be handed out and worked with in class. This will help the participants to choose the most appropriate tools for their upcoming research endeavours.

Readings
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=g714032980


>> Clinical audit, evaluation and assessment in routine psychological therapy: Theoretical and methodological issues
Prof. Chris Evans (University of Notthingam – UK)

The Clinical Outcome in Routine Evaluation (CORE) System is the first standardised public domain approach to audit, evaluation and outcome measurement for UK psychological therapy and counselling services. The CORE System was developed by a multidisciplinary group of practitioners and researchers and the content of the system was informed by extensive collaboration with practitioners, managers, and service commissioners. The system comprises three tools, sharing the onus of evaluation data provision equally between clients completing a CORE outcome measure pre- and post-therapy and practitioners completing the CORE Assessment Form at pre-therapy and End of Therapy Form at post-therapy. This lecture will provide the theoretical and methodological foundations of the CORE system and will show concrete clinical applications.

Readings
Mellor-Clark, J., Barkham, M., Connell, J. & Evans, C. (1999). Practice-based evidence and need for a standardised evaluation system: Informing the design of the CORE System. European Journal of Psychotherapy, Counselling and Health, 2, 357-374.

Barkham, M., Culverwell, A., Spindler, K., Twigg, E., & Connell, J. (2005). The CORE-OM in an older adult population: Psychometric status, acceptability, and feasibility. Aging and Mental Health, 9, 235-245.

Barkham, M., Margison, F., Leach, C., Lucock, M., Mellor-Clark, J., Evans, C., Benson, L., Connell, J., Audin, K. & McGrath, G. (2001). Service profiling and outcomes benchmarking using the CORE-OM: Towards practice-based evidence in the psychological therapies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 184-196.

Evans, C, Connell, J., Barkham, M., Margison, F., Mellor-Clark, J., McGrath, G. & Audin, K. (2002). Towards a standardised brief outcome measure: Psychometric properties and utility of the CORE-OM. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 51-60.


>> Doing qualitative Research in Psychotherapy
Prof. Jörg Frommer (University of Magdeburg – Germany)

This seminar offers the opportunity for participants to discuss their own qualitative research projects in the field of psychotherapy and counselling. Submissions should be sent to Prof. Frommer (joerg.frommer@med.ovgu.de) until June, 14, 2010. Each submission should enclose (1) a short synopsis of the project and (2) text material (transcriptions of e. g. psychotherapy hour, interview etc.).

Readings
Frommer, J. and Rennie, D. L. (Editors): Qualitative Psychotherapy Research: Methods and Methodology. Lengerich: Pabst Science Publisher 2001, 2nd Edition 2006


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